Chrysler Town & Country RT

The Chrysler Town & Country was the brand's upscale van flagship through 2016 and the direct predecessor to the Pacifica. Built on the RT platform, it positioned itself as the house's premium minivan — leather seats, Stow-and-Go and generous equipment — while the mechanically identical Dodge Grand Caravan played the price-fighter role. It was a bestseller in the American family market for years, which today makes it a cheap, practical used buy with excellent parts support.

On engines, the clear recommendation is the 3.6L Pentastar V6 with 305 hp, which replaced the older, weaker units from the 2011 refresh on. The Pentastar is FCA's workhorse: durable, well understood, cheap to service, and free of the MDS lifter woes that plague the Hemi motors. The usual age items are the Pentastar tick from worn rocker arms past 100,000 miles, occasional oil and coolant weeps from the plastic oil-filter housing, and an eventually leaking water pump. Early builds also had left-head valve-seat wear — listen for a clean, quiet cold start. Overall, though, this is an engine that easily clears 150,000 miles and well beyond with proper maintenance.

The bigger worries on this generation live in the body's electrics and mechanics. The TIPM, the central fuse and relay module, is the classic headache and can cause random total electrical failures — from a no-start to erratic accessories. The power sliding doors like to quit from failed cables and worn mechanicals, and the A/C compressor is a known wear item. Check those three areas and you know the priciest pitfalls.

Bottom line: the Town & Country is an honest, comfortable family van that's genuinely worth buying as a Pentastar model from 2011 on. You get a lot of vehicle for the money, but scrutinize the TIPM history, cycle the sliding doors several times, and test the A/C. With clean service records and no open electronic issues, it's one of the most sensible affordable vans on the US used market.